Stream of Consciousness (The Wishing for Spring edition)

• (All in black was written last week and the blue are the additions from today.) Amazing, amazing, amazing news!!!!  For the past five nights (in a row!!) (Well she got sick over the weekend, causing Mommy to take two days off of work this week and it's only Wednesday.  I'm just trying to get some rest as there has been LOTS of hours-long nonstop screaming sessions causing Mommy to have a couple of Linda-Blair-in-the-Exorcist moments), someone has went to bed around 9pm and woken up past 6am!  In her own crib!!!!!!  The first night, she woke up at 6am.  The last two she has actually woken up beyond 7am.  We are still working out the kinks of the morning.  Right now we are questioning whether we should move her into our bedroom at 6am-ish as her bedroom is adjacent to the bathroom that I get ready in for work and E sleeps in until 7:00am & beyond.  Basically, we are questioning whether she would sleep through my morning routine in the room next to her or if she would sleep better in our room, so E can sleep in longer.  After our one-year check-up last week (which I don't think that I actually told you about), I was afraid that we were in for a battle of wills with a girl that didn't want to sleep all night in her crib.  I was imagining night screaming as we were trying to be strong and keep her in her crib.  I'm knocking on wood here when I say that I think she decided that where she wanted to sleep.  She also decided to cut out her mid-night feeding on her own -- almost immediately after the doctor's appointment (as if she understood the doctor telling me that based on what I was telling her, it was time to stop that feeding).  Once we cut out that feeding and she got over a little cold that she had, she has slept beautifully for us!

• So we are coming down from our birthday craziness.  Life is slowly resuming back to normal and with that, the fading of the constant reminders that I now have a one-year old on my hands.  When do you stop counting the weeks old they are?  Or the months?  I never want to stop counting, but know that it's insane to think that when she turns 10 years old, I'll be saying "Happy 520 weeks old, lady!"  But I have run into a conundrum of sorts.  I have been taking update photos with her every four weeks.  Just me and her.  I did it, so I could see how big she was getting each month.  Because although she is growing up right in front of my very eyes, without those update photos, I wouldn't be able to tell how much she has changed in each month.  I don't see the constant change that is "growing up" as I see her every day.  Those photos have been invaluable to me -- making me realize that things are happening so quickly, that she is growing up so quickly.  I'm not ready to let go of her infancy yet and I feel those photos are part of that.  And so I'll continue with the monthly photos, until I think that it's time to stop. Besides, one of the things that was stressed to me as the "photographer" was to make sure that I get in the photos as well.  I feel that I don't get in the daily photos enough and E doesn't randomly grab the camera to take photos of me and her.  So I have to set up my shots myself and use a remote to capture them.  But I feel like I'm doing her a great service by taking these photos with her.  Everyone wants to see photos of their mama when they were little -- bc I know that I'm not going to look the same when she is 15 (trust me, I'm going to give it a valiant effort, but something you can't stop, like aging).  I know that I wish that I had more photos from my pretty mama when I was young.

• Something else that we have done for Finorah's birthday was to write her a letter.  Surprisingly, E thinks that this is a fantastic idea.  We are each going to write her a handwritten letter on her birthday and seal it in an envelope.  It will be stashed away in her memory chest for her to open at later date in her life.  I'm really excited about these.  I think that on all major milestone birthdays (1,5, 10, etc...) I'm going to ask the grandparents if they would like to write one as well.  E & I are going to sit down and write our letters this weekend.  Signed, sealed, delivered...

• Yesterday was Finorah's first school photos.  Daycare had a photographer come in and take school photos for all those who wanted them.  We dressed her up in her prettiest dress with a faux fur jacket and a pretty headband.  According to my husband, the ladies at daycare swooned over her attire.  When E & I discussed the photo, both of us agreed that she wouldn't smile to a stranger with a camera when I can't even get her to smile.  We had thought that she would give her serious face (like her passport photo or her visit with Santa).  Well, I got her daily report when I picked her up, saying that she gave a beautiful smile for her photo.  I'm very excited to see how they turned out.

• Today I signed us up for "shrimp swimming lessons" at our local YMCA.  The classes start next Thursday and run for 7 weeks.  And her swimsuit just arrived in the mail yesterday -- perfect timing!  I'm looking forward to taking her and seeing her reaction to the water.  She loves the bath and can only assume that she is going to love swimming lessons!  Did I mention her cuteness of a swimsuit?
• Her top left tooth is ALMOST out -- almost.  You can feel that it's right there and you can see white, but it's not out yet.  I just noticed over the weekend that her bottom right fourth tooth is at the same stage as her upper one!  She is going to have five teeth before we know it!

•  I'm still dealing with a sick baby, alone.  Please don't feel sorry for me, as E said that he was going to cancel his plans and I told him to go ahead, thinking that she was going to make a speedy recovery as she always has.  Not this time... :(  This one (& last night in particular) has definitely been an adventure that I'll fill you in on later in the week.